Life is like a Giant Slalom (and so is investing)

and if I can pull off that analogy, I am better than I know.

Well, life is similar to a Giant Slalom (GS) in the way that GS is different than slalom or downhill as both slalom and downhill are really not "thinking man's" ski events. GS is a thinking man's ski race.

In slalom, there is no time to think. There is only instinctive reaction and the rush and getting to the finish. Downhill is all about overcoming fear and then getting to the bottom of the hill in one piece.

GS is different because to ski GS well, one has to think, anticipate and act. You have to know the course well, anticipate and visualize all the turns and most importantly, execute your plans for each turn timely and with precision . It is not just instinctive, it is one step more difficult than that - plan the action and then do it.

It is essential in GS to start turning before reaching the turn itself. One needs to be almost done with the turn by the point one reaches the gate flag and then accelerate out of the turn.

So then the impossible analogy - life and investing is like that too - the hardest thing of all is to think "ahead of time", plan what you will do when the moment comes and then actually do it. Failure to do any one of the 3 steps results in missed gates, failed investments or just plain simple failures.

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